If I were in your shoes, I would continue to save and work on your credit.

If I were in your shoes I would send the letter to your attorney and let them handle it from here.  

So if you were in my shoes what would you do?

This is going to depend on your risk tolerance and preferences, but I'm happy to provide my input..If I were in your shoes, I'd do the HELOC because of your interest in BRRRR. if you were trying to do a long term rental, I would do a cash-out refi on your primary residence. 8 years is a long time to wait to do 1 deal, so I would personally shy away from depending solely on cash flow.

If I were in your shoes, I would look for a house near transit access that has the potential for a legal rental suite. 

Home prices in San Diego rose ~25% county wide in the last year. 

Would love some advise from anyone who has been in my shoes, starting out on a new career in real estate and realistic short term goes as a new investor.

But I don’t want to go through all of that if I’m just looking through rose colored glasses because I’m excited at the prospect. 

The Days on Market (DOM) figure for single-family homes fell from 51 to 26;Total property sales rose 9.2 percent with 12,036 units sold;Total dollar volume increased 26.7 percent to $4.3 billion;The single-family average price increased 14.0 percent to $380,233; The single-family median price rose 15.2 percent to $310,000; Single-family homes months of inventory registered a 1.9-months supply, down from 2.6 months year-over-year and below the national inventory of 2.6 months;On a year-to-date basis, single-family homes sales are running 17.4 percent ahead of 2020’s record pace.Townhome/condominium sales jumped 27.1 percent with the average price up 9.5 percent to $237,473 and the median price up 14.3 percent to $200,000;Single-family home rentals fell 10.2 percent with the average rent up 9.6 percent to $2,153; Townhome/condominium leases rose 1.8 percent with the average rent up 6.9 percent to $1,765.Source HAR

If I were in your shoes I would start by asking myself: do I want to be a full-time real estate investor and do I have the time to do that well?